Posts Tagged ‘guest list’

I am ridiculously excited once again. Last Friday it was the arrival of my books and this Friday it’s the arrival of my business cards! This has sent me through the roof with excitement today and I’m not quite clear why. It is at least a vast improvement on ripping bits of paper out of my notebook and scribbling my website address down which is what I was having to do – hardly the most professional approach. Mind you, neither will leaping up and down with excitement be as I hand them out.

my terrifically exciting cards!

I am also pleased to announce that real progress has been made on my task list. Further to my last, frivolous, blog I got an absolutely stinging email from Florida saying “….you might write lightly about panicking but I am getting very concerned about the lack of progress. I am saying this for your benefit. We need to be in the strongest position to go forward successfully.” I read this at 5:30am UK time, and thought – right, I’ll do it then. Over an hour I sent ten emails, most of them to Florida, created several lists, drank two pots of tea and generally sorted my life out. At some point my youngest daughter joined me (thank God for CBeebies) and shortly after that I was finished for the moment. Or I thought I was. So I was quite shocked when at 8am the replies started pinging back from Florida. I have no idea what on earth the time would have been there, but it wouldn’t have been a welcoming one. I was also very tired and therefore eating Smarties by the handful to try and stay focussed. Progress is clearly good for the mind, not so much for the waistline….

Whilst I’m on the subject of minds, one thing that is definitely not good for them is the cognitive behavioural therapy I am undergoing at the moment. It’s for my phobia of vomiting (real name: emetophobia) and joking aside, this is a very debilitating phobia and one that I do struggle to cope with and have done all my life. I thought being twenty-eight and having two young and occasionally vomiting children might be a reason for me to start sorting it out now. However this CBT has done nothing but make me feel worse so far. I waltzed into my appointment, not really thinking a great deal about it, to be faced by not one, but two psychologists with very serious faces. I sat down opposite them both feeling a little like I was on trial. They then grilled me at length on several different subjects, from “How many siblings do you have?” to the more disturbing “Have you ever thought about killing yourself?” Was this a question or a suggestion?? It was hard to tell. I may need treatment but I don’t feel that’s the answer, even for the cash-strapped NHS. I felt as though every completely rational point that I made was taken as further evidence of my lunacy and I walked out not being sure about anything. But if I can stop being terrified of people being sick then it’s worth it.

So – now – having completed so many tasks and so quickly, I now need to concentrate on the penultimate one; my guest list for the book launch. It’s going to be hard to wriggle through this minefield without offending someone, I suspect. I’d like to make it clear at this point that it is open invitation, anyone is welcome – and indeed encouraged – to come along, but I cannot send invitations to everybody. Either practically or financially. My friends will understand, it’s more my mother who won’t. But perhaps she will be too busy tending to her flock of cats to notice. Anyway, happily my children go back to school next week (WHERE has the summer gone??? I know I say that every year, but really, it’s mad how quickly eight weeks go) so this will leave me with a lot more disposable time to do my guest list. And to be managed effectively.

I thought I was doing quite well actually with this whole writing/child-rearing/keeping house clean business recently. Everything seemed more under control. Sainsburys had delivered the right food in the shopping (always makes me feel better to buy fruit and vegetables – even if we then don’t go on to eat them my fridge looks good), the girls had some sort of structure to their day, I was fitting in everything that I needed to AND managing to spend time with my long-suffering husband. Result. Then feeling quite smug I went to get my washing in off the line and realised that I’d left it there for so long that spiders had spun their webs in it. More practice required, clearly.

Vistor Numbers…

Quotes

Fiona Allen, Actress

"I loved reading this book..
will look out for your next one!"

Best Selling Author, Marika Cobbold, after reading ‘Things He Never Knew’

"What happens when old sins catch up with you, threatening to destroy the very fabric of your life? This is the question that Sarah Haynes poses in her compelling and insightful debut novel about a family in crisis."

Chloe @ chicklitreviews.com

"I hope Sarah Haynes continues to write because she is definitely an author I want to read more from based on this brilliant book."

Cari Rosen

"I thoroughly recommend "Things He Never Knew" as the ideal book to curl up with on a winter's evening."

Things He Never Knew

Review Links

Chicklit Reviews
“…I loved the writing, the tension made it so that I couldn’t put it down and it was just a very well crafted read overall. …” Click on the link to read the full review!

Review @ The Wormhole Blog by Carnelian Valley
Is this a book for chick-lit lovers or readers of fiction overall? … there is something for everyone inside its cover. And if the third category concerns recommendation then yes, I most certainly recommend it.